Washington opens its men’s basketball season tonight with the first of three games in three nights in the Athletes in Action Classic at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

And top returning scorer Isaiah Thomas described the opening trio of opponents in a way that could send chills up the spine of any UW fan.

“These are all University of Portland kind of games,” Thomas said.

The reference was to last season’s opening opponent – the Portland Pilots – who sent the Huskies home 0-1 with an 80-74 upset in the Rose City.

The AIA Classic field is made up of UW, Wright State, Belmont and Portland State, all meeting in a round robin over three consecutive days of doubleheaders.

“They’re good teams, and they’re sneaky teams that can get you,” Thomas said. “... For these teams, it’s like their Super Bowl. They’re not as good as us as far as the rankings and whatnot, so it’s like their Super Bowl. They’re going to come in, bringing their ‘A’ game, playing hard. So we’ve got to come back and play harder than they do.”

I love it! "University of Portland" games... hey, if we can deliver "University of Portland" games to UCLA, Butler, Oregon, and Washington again, I'd be a very happy camper. Let's make this a national term!

Was that really that bad of an upset last year? Sure seems like the Huskies haven't forgotten about it. I'm a little jaded about them and their fans after the PSU-UW women's game yesterday, though. Their fans were jackasses.

Sounds like "little" Isiah and his buddy's is more concerned about the Pilots then they are of his team. IMHO, REV would take a win over UCLA,Butler, Minnesota OR [b]GONZAGA and (idahooo ) anyday before that game. Although a win over the Huskies again this year would be nice.

PilotDrummer wrote:Was that really that bad of an upset last year? Sure seems like the Huskies haven't forgotten about it. I'm a little jaded about them and their fans after the PSU-UW women's game yesterday, though. Their fans were jackasses.

Yes, it was a very big upset eventhough we had one or two 2-3 point losses to them before that, I think. At the end of the year, UW's RPI was much higher than ours was. It would be an even bigger deal if we beat them this year on the road. I'm going to try to go to the game, however, I honestly don't expect us to win that one on the road this year. I think we have a better chance of upsetting Gonzaga at home than UW on the road.

PilotDrummer wrote:Was that really that bad of an upset last year? Sure seems like the Huskies haven't forgotten about it. I'm a little jaded about them and their fans after the PSU-UW women's game yesterday, though. Their fans were jackasses.

Yes, it was a very big upset eventhough we had one or two 2-3 point losses to them before that, I think. At the end of the year, UW's RPI was much higher than ours was. It would be an even bigger deal if we beat them this year on the road. I'm going to try to go to the game, however, I honestly don't expect us to win that one on the road this year. I think we have a better chance of upsetting Gonzaga at home than UW on the road.

up7587 wrote: Has PSU fallen that far, or is UW really that much better?

Yes.

And I don't think we can count on Isaiah Thomas fouling out in 10 minutes this year...

Or maybe the question is answered as: PSU is that much worse.

Thomas won't foul out early at UW. For our matchup, both teams are arguably deeper than last year. They have Gaddy coming off of the bench, and we have guys like Stohl and Mitrovic. We have to play better than last year to beat them because they definitely won't underestimate us, and we're the road team this time. Other than the backcourt area (where I feel like our athleticism and theirs cancel each other out when we play to our potential), I think this is kind of a grit (UP) vs. athleticism (UW) matchup.